23 – Instant Karma

Imagine. All those people. The ones who make each day that little bit harder. That little bit more unbearable.

Imagine if you could silence them. Just by looking at them.

I mean, just imagine. If you could do that. To all the people who annoy you. Would you do it?

1 Comment

Styre
on October 13, 2018 at 11:28 PM

TORCHWOOD: INSTANT KARMA​

“Instant Karma,” by David Llewellyn, James Goss, and Jonathan Morris, is a deeply uncomfortable story. It follows Simon (Jonny Dixon), a war veteran and bus driver living with severe anger management issues. He’s in a support group, but it’s turned into a venue for venting his frustrations with the rest of the world. And then, something changes: he discovers he is able to channel the collective anger of the group into lethal psychic power, and uses this ability to kill those who annoy him. Into this comes Toshiko Sato, working alone, needing to discover his secret and stop him. The story is primarily about the relationship between Tosh and Simon: how she tries to understand him, how she tries to relate to him, how she tries to stop him. But what makes it uncomfortable is that Simon is an utterly irredeemable character. His experiences have poisoned his soul: he feels no empathy, shows no concern for his fellow human beings. His relationships with the fellow members of the group are manipulative at best and abusive at worst. And while the authors show him to be sympathetic at first, it quickly becomes apparent that there’s nothing good left in him and any sympathy is misplaced. Listening to him taking revenge on otherwise innocent people is disturbing; Dixon and the authors deserve full credit for creating this character and following him to his logical end. Naoko Mori is fantastic as well: Tosh is always a step behind the listener when it comes to Simon and she plays her revelations well. “Instant Karma” is well worth hearing, though you may need a shower afterward.